There is a need for a holistic usability evaluation framework that accommodates social constructivist online courses. Social knowledge construction may not be adequately evaluated using current frameworks. This qualitative research study examined the usability needs of a social constructivist online course. Data from an online course were analyzed using phenomenography. The data were applied to an existing framework for usability evaluations. It is recommended that usability researchers classify usability concerns as either challenge or hindrance stress in order to eliminate hindrance stress and to appropriately select and pace challenge stress. Hindrance and challenge stress identified in this study are discussed.